Use Settings → Marketing domains for newsletters, promotions, and automation mail. This path is separate from transactional API email and uses different DNS and sending reputation.
Need the big picture first? See Sending domains overview.
Use a dedicated subdomain
Prefer a subdomain instead of your main brand domain:
| Good | Avoid for marketing |
|---|---|
news.acme.com |
acme.com (keep for website / transactional) |
mail.acme.com |
Reusing your transactional hostname |
hello.baffapp.com |
A domain already verified only as transactional |
Why: if campaign engagement or complaint rates change, your receipts and password resets stay on a separate reputation.
After verification, send from addresses on that subdomain, for example hello@news.acme.com.
Setup checklist
- Open Settings → Marketing domains.
- Add the subdomain (example:
news.acme.com) — not a full email address. - Publish the ownership and SPF TXT records shown.
- Click Check DNS.
- After ownership is confirmed, Mailivate issues the DKIM record. Publish it, then Check DNS again.
- Publish the recommended DMARC record (
p=noneto start). - In list, campaign, or automation settings, choose a From address on that marketing domain.
If your DNS host automatically appends the domain, enter only the Name shown in Mailivate. Use the copy buttons next to each field.
Records you will publish
| Record | When it appears | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership TXT | Immediately | Proves you control the subdomain |
| SPF TXT | Immediately | Authorizes Mailivate marketing servers |
| DKIM TXT | After ownership passes Check DNS | Signs campaign and automation mail |
| DMARC TXT | Recommended | Policy for authentication failures |
Marketing bounce handling uses Mailivate’s platform return-path. You normally do not add a customer return-path CNAME for marketing domains (that CNAME is for transactional domains).
After verification
- Set the list default From / reply-to to an address on the marketing domain.
- Campaign and automation From addresses must use the marketing domain.
- You cannot send
POST /api/emailfrom a marketing-only domain — use a transactional domain for the API.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | What to try |
|---|---|
| DKIM shows “issued after setup” | Publish ownership + SPF first, then Check DNS so Mailivate can issue DKIM |
| Domain already registered | Choose another subdomain (for example news. instead of mail.) |
| Campaign From rejected | Confirm the marketing domain is verified and the address uses that exact host |
| Trying to use root domain for both | Keep transactional on the root domain and marketing on a subdomain — see Sending domains overview |